Wife of the late Edward Francis O’Neill; mother of Patrick Thomas and Ellen Louise O’Neill; mother-in-law of Maria O’Neill; grandmother of Madeleine, Teddy, and Daisy O’Neill.

Betty Ellen Brown was born into a loving family in Brooklyn, New York, in 1933. She has an older sister Evelyn. Her mother was Rena, whose mother was from Trier, Germany, and whose father was from Arth, Switzerland.  Her father was Arthur Brown, whose parents were Jacob Jacobsen and Ellen Andersdatter, from neighboring towns outside of Stavanger, Norway (and whose name was changed to Brown during the immigration process). Betty was of the generation who experienced the hardships of the Great Depression, the trials of World War II, and then the prosperity of the 1950s and 60s.

Betty was lucky to meet a little girl in kindergarten, and they were best friends for 85 years.  She enjoyed painting as a teenager, and had a painting purchased by someone at a local art show! After high school at Franklin K. Lane, she was accepted to Queens College. Money was tight, so she only went for 1 year.

She then found her way to Pfizer Inc. as a legal secretary. During this time she met Edward. Betty came from a small, Lutheran family, and here was a quintessential Brooklyn Irish American from a large, animated family. Long story short: they got married. She explained how Edward had to make a chart to explain all his relatives: who were the O’Neills, the O’Briens, the O’Connors.  There were quizzes before family gatherings!

Betty had very much her own style of doing things. She always changed for dinner. Nothing fancy, but whatever she was wearing during the day—gardening, house cleaning—she changed into a dress or skirt for when Edward came home. They would sit in the kitchen and have a cocktail before family dinner.

When Edward died 37 years ago, Betty had to re-build her life in middle age. It was terrifying, but she was brilliant at it all around. She learned to drive, she took secretarial jobs, getting her skills back in shape was scary, but she did it.  She got on the list for civil service, and got a wonderful job at Village Hall in the town of Massapequa Park. While she missed Edward terribly, she built for herself an entire second act, as they say.

Her quality of life was wonderful up until the very end.